MESSAGE
DATE | 2003-06-09 |
FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
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SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] LINUX THREAT TO MICROSOFT IS VERY REAL
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From owner-hangout-desteny-at-mrbrklyn.com Mon Jun 9 13:59:41 2003 Received: from www2.mrbrklyn.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mrbrklyn.com (8.12.3/8.11.2/SuSE Linux 8.11.1-0.5) with ESMTP id h59Hxf9Y006675 for ; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 13:59:41 -0400 Received: (from mdom-at-localhost) by www2.mrbrklyn.com (8.12.3/8.12.3/Submit) id h59HxfUd006674 for hangout-desteny; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 13:59:41 -0400 X-Authentication-Warning: www2.mrbrklyn.com: mdom set sender to owner-hangout-at-www2.mrbrklyn.com using -f Received: from mail9.messagelabs.com (mail9.messagelabs.com [194.205.110.133]) by mrbrklyn.com (8.12.3/8.11.2/SuSE Linux 8.11.1-0.5) with SMTP id h59Hxe9Y006669 for ; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 13:59:40 -0400 X-VirusChecked: Checked X-Env-Sender: EInker-at-gam.com X-Msg-Ref: server-3.tower-9.messagelabs.com!1055181761!38259 Received: (qmail 6497 invoked from network); 9 Jun 2003 18:02:41 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO w2gw-ldn01.gam.com) (193.202.231.222) by server-3.tower-9.messagelabs.com with SMTP; 9 Jun 2003 18:02:41 -0000 Received: from ntas-ldn15.gam.com (unverified) by w2gw-ldn01.gam.com (Content Technologies SMTPRS 4.3.1) with ESMTP id for ; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 19:02:41 +0100 Received: by ntas-ldn15.gam.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) id ; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 19:02:41 +0100 Message-ID: From: "Inker, Evan" To: "'hangout-at-nylxs.com'" Subject: [hangout] LINUX THREAT TO MICROSOFT IS VERY REAL Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2003 19:04:17 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: owner-hangout-at-mrbrklyn.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "Inker, Evan" List: New Yorker GNU Linux Scene Admin: To unsubscribe send unsubscribe name-at-domian.com in the body to hangout-request-at-www2.mrbrklyn.com X-Keywords: X-UID: 13442 Status: RO Content-Length: 3911 Lines: 84
LINUX THREAT TO MICROSOFT IS VERY REAL By LAUREN BARACK
June 6, 2003 -- That Penguin is growing some teeth.
Steve Ballmer's e-mail detailing Linux as a threat shook The Street yesterday - and possibly some confidence in Microsoft's reign. "Linux is a major, growing threat to Windows," said Art Russell, a research analyst at Edward Jones. "It's hard to compete with free in a tough economy when people are trying to do more with less."
Microsoft's stock traded at nearly double its daily average volume yesterday, after company CEO Ballmer's worries became known. Nearly 116 million shares changed hands - more than twice the daily average volume of 61.5 million. The stock closed down 78 cents, or 3.1 percent, to end the day at $24.09. Although not the first time Ballmer has voiced concern about the free rival software, his comment in an internal e-mail appeared ill-timed following the sale of more than $1.4 billion of his own Microsoft stock. It was the first time Ballmer has sold shares since 1991.
While not even a blip in Ballmer's eye back then, Linux has grown into a serious concern - not one that should be taken lightly, experts believe. "It's the fastest growing server operating system," Russell said of Linux. "And Microsoft had better be concerned about it." Price is definitely one lure for the freely distributed Linux, although companies usually need to pay for some maintenance of the software. But another strong appeal is that it's simply not Microsoft.
After years of appearing to bully its competitors - and in some cases shutting them down - Microsoft's reputation has come back to bite it. "That's what monopolies do," said Frederick Berenstein, the co-chairman of Linux start-up Xandros. Berenstein created Xandros after Microsoft purchased Corel - and dumped its Linux business. That move now looks a little shortsighted for the software giant.
"They think they're a monopoly, they act like a monopoly and they do something so atrocious people don't want to deal with them," he said. Now Microsoft has to deal with Linux.
Microsoft has already started a fund to try to undercut the price of anyone making a bid against it. But in a preliminary bid for supplying software to the Munich City Council in Germany, Microsoft lost to Linux - despite offering the lowest price, Berenstein said. "Microsoft pays more attention to Linux than to anything else," said David Smith, an analyst with Gartner. "But Microsoft is always looking for anything that can hurt the company."
Regards,
Evan M. Inker (New York) x. 4615
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